Chapter Five Sarah
Giving a reassuring smile, I nodded at Halley, an eight-year-old client working through an exposure experiment. She had just raised her hand for me to call on her to answer a question, just like she would a teacher in class. Then she would try to control her prolongation stuttering in her response.
We spent most of our session working up to the experiment. Halley had such a fear of her classmates' judgment that even practicing with me had her trembling.
“Yes, Halley,” I prompted.
With her pulse fluttering in her neck, she continued hesitating. Finally, she shook her head. “I…can’t.”
Reaching over, I patted her hand. “It’s okay. I know you can do this.” At her continued apprehension, I said, “We’ll practice again at our next session. Okay?”
Since she was teary, I walked her out to her mother in the waiting room. We were already fifteen minutes over from starting late after they’d rushed in at the last minute. As I started back to my office, an unusual quiet echoed around me since my fellow doctors had early afternoon appointments.
When I walked into my office, I recoiled at the sight of a man in a tailored black suit standing to the side of my desk. At my gasp, the man whirled around and pinned me with the clearest pair of blue eyes I’d ever seen. Even though they weren’t the color, they reminded me of a wolf’s.
Piercing and predatory.
They didn’t fit in with his classically handsome face–one under normal circumstances I would’ve been very attracted to.
A moment of tense silence stretched between us. As my hand fluttered to my throat, I asked, “I, uh…I’m sorry. Do we have an appointment?”
“No. We don’t.”
“Then what are you doing here?”
Instead of responding, the man strode over to me. My heart threatened to beat out of my chest. He towered over me, which wasn’t easy since I was 5’9. Multicolored ink peeked out from the neck of his white dress shirt that strained over his bulging chest and arms.
After he extended his hand, I merely stared at it. When he cleared his throat, I gaze trailed his muscular body up to his face. With a nod, he said, “Ivan Drago.”
Furrowing my brows, I tried remembering where I’d heard that name before. “Sarah Whitfield,” I replied before gingerly shaking his hand. “Is there something I can help you with, Mr. Drago?”
“I need your expertise for a client of mine.”
Furrowing my brows, I asked, “Client?”
The man ignored my question. “We’ve heard that your practice specializes in new therapy methods to reverse stuttering.”
For a moment, I couldn’t find my voice. Finally, I replied, “Yes, we do.”
“My client suffers from Developmental Stuttering. None of the treatments of his childhood helped.”
Shaking my head, I replied, “I’m afraid you’re confused. This is a children’s speech practice. I don’t treat adults.”
The man cocked his brows at me. “My client is a very important man. We can make it very worth your time to see him.”
“It’s not about the money. It’s about your client receiving the proper treatment,” I countered.
When his jaw clenched, I shrank back. Trying to diffuse the situation, I said, “I would be happy to recommend another speech-language pathologist who would be better equipped to see him.”
“No, that won’t do. He’s made it very clear.” His wolf eyes narrowed menacingly. “Only you.”
Normally a surge of pride would’ve filled me with being so professionally desired. But the whole situation was too strange and too frightening. His tone and demeanor continued to send fear prickling down my spine.
“I am flattered, but I can assure you there are more qualified therapists.”
Shaking his head, the man countered, “He has done his due diligence researching therapists. He was very impressed with some of the medical journals he read about your success with CBT.”
I sucked in a breath of surprise. “He actually read my research about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?”
“Yes, he did.” He cocked his brows at me. “He was very impressed with your methods and your results.”
“He is?”
Ivan nodded. “That’s why he had me seek you out.”
After smoothing an errant strand of hair back into my bun, I said, “While that’s very flattering, I would remind you once again that the research was on children.”
Ivan nodded. “He was never truly given the opportunity in his childhood to correct his speech.” For the first time, Ivan’s harsh features softened slightly. “He comes from a world of perfection where any impediment is seen as a shameful defect.”
“While he has my sympathies for what he’s endured, I simply cannot take him as a patient.”
My breath hitched at the narrowing of his wolf eyes. “My client is not used to hearing no for an answer.”
Acting braver than I felt, I jerked my chin up. “And I’m not used to my professional decisions being questioned.” On shaky legs, I half-walked, half-lumbered across my office.
After throwing open the door, I said, “I will thank you to remove yourself from my office before I call security.”
For a moment, surprise washed over Ivan’s face. But then it quickly vanished. With a twisted smile, he stalked over to me. “I could take you to my car before they’d make it up from the first floor where they’re doing their initial rounds.”
As his sinister words echoed in my ears, my stomach clenched in dread as I fought to breathe. For a moment, I could only stare at him–the frozen prey in the snare of the predator.
“Please,” I choked out.
As Ivan loomed over me, I cowered back against the door. Even though my chest rose and fell in harsh pants, I began rambling out of fear. “Please don’t hurt me. My father has dementia, and I have a brother who has Down Syndrome. Even though he lives in a group home, he still needs me since–”
The man’s gloved finger came to press against my lips to silence me. Once I was silent, he tenderly cupped my cheek. To my surprise, pity swirled in his usually cruel eyes. “Don’t worry, Kroshka. He would have my ass if I hurt one hair on that beautiful head of yours.”
And with those final words, he walked out of my office. As I started to hyperventilate, I pulled from my own teaching. “I see…my…desk. I…see…the…picture of Sammy and Silas.”
As the man’s words continued echoing through my head, I strode over to my desk. Skipping ahead, I said, “I hear my fish. I hear my breathing. I hear…” I pinched my eyes shut. “His voice.”
With a shudder, I collapsed into my chair. Bending over, I brought my head between my legs. I realized it left me in a vulnerable state if the man were to return.
He would have my ass if I hurt a hair on your beautiful head.
I jumped out of my skin when my phone went off on the desk beside me. At the sight of my best friend’s name flashing across the screen, a flicker of relief washed over me.
“H-Hello?” I answered.
A pause came over the line before the deep timbre of Hudson’s echoed on the line. “Sarah?”
I swallowed down my rising tears. “Yeah…hey.”
“Are you okay?” Hudson asked.
Since I was used to always putting my needs second, I almost replied that I was fine. But since this was Hudson I was talking to, my voice trembled as I replied, “Actually, I’m not.”
After quickly filling him in on my visitor, Hudson said, “Oh fuck no. I’m coming to get you right now.”
A shaky laugh escaped my lips. “No, you’re not.”
“Oh hell yes, I am. Not only are you not going to walk to your car alone, but you’re going to spend the night with me and Archie.”
Considering his tone, I knew there was no point in arguing with him. He’d always been like an older brother to me. Even more so than my own older brother whom Hudson was friends with since middle school.
“Okay. I’ll wait here for you.”
“Go lock your office door,” he instructed.
“Right,” I forced my shaking legs to cross the room.
Hudson waited until he heard the click of the lock. “Do you want to stay on the phone with me until I get there?”
“No, no. I’m fine.”
“Sarah–”
“I promise. Besides, I need to write some clinical notes from my last patient.”
“Okay. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Be safe.”
“You too.”
Once I’d hung up with Hudson, I forced myself to take out my iPad and add the clinical notes to Lucas’s file. I got so engrossed in my paperwork that when a bang came at the office door, a shriek escaped my lips as I jumped out of my skin.
“Sarah?” Hudson’s voice boomed.
I’d forgotten I’d given him a key to the front office door. I bolted out of my chair and streaked across the room. After throwing open the door, I rushed into Hudson’s waiting arms.
As I buried my face into his broad chest, he tightened his hold on me. “Oh, babe, you’re shaking.”
“Ugh, I’m being such a neurotic idiot,” I groaned into his shirt.
“Hey now. Watch how you talk about my best friend,” Hudson chided.
With a weak laugh, I pulled back to stare up into his dark eyes. His handsome face was filled with concern. “Could you give the police a description of the man?”
“Seriously, Huddy? What kind of police report would I make? Yes, officer, a cruelly handsome man in an expensive suit asked me to help his client with his stuttering.”
Hudson’s brows popped wide. “You didn’t tell me he was handsome.”
I smacked his arm playfully. “That’s not the point.”
“Maybe it was just an act. Maybe there wasn’t a client, and he was just trying to lure you somewhere to sell you into trafficking.”
“I don’t quite fit the trafficking type.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, sweetie,” Hudson countered with a wink.
“I’m too old. I’m knocking on thirty’s door, remember?”
“You’re a hot piece of ass, and age is just a number.”
With a groan, I jerked my hand through my hair. “Can we just get out of here?”
“Fine.” A curious look came over Hudson’s face. “Wait, did he give you a name?”
“Yeah, Ivan Drago.”
I jumped at the laugh that burst from Hudson’s lips. “You’re joking, right?”
“Um, no. I remember it very well. Especially the way he said E-Van, which sounded so Russian.”
My remark only caused Hudson to laugh harder. “What?”
“Ivan Drago was the name of the Russian in Rocky IV.”